Perfect Valentines
by KiwiDaydreamer
Summary: He saw Althea glance down at the carpet to see a polaroid photo of himself and Katie, from all those years ago. Travis inwardly sighed, knowing he had some explaining to do. A then and now oneshot about the best Valentines day Travis Stoll has ever had. Oneshot. Complete. AU. (Has original character)


Perfect Valentines Oneshot

A/N: I just thought this would be a fun, and semi-happy one-shot to write on the lead up to Valentines day. I hope you guys enjoy it and if you want to know more about Althea and Travis, I have three stories about them :)

Disclaimer: ...

* * *

_Then:_

Sixteen year old Travis Stoll couldn't help but flash a smile at himself as he glanced at the mirror, eying his newly gelled hair. He looked _good, _if he could say so himself. It was going to his and Katie's first Valentine's together and he was determined to make it the most memorable one ever. He had been dating the daughter of Demeter for the past six months and it was pretty obvious to everyone around that they were falling pretty quickly in love with each other. Neither of them had actually uttered the three words to each other, but you could just…tell.

"It's gonna be dark out soon Trav," his younger brother pointed out as Travis continued to stare at himself, trying to perfect his hair. The elder Stoll shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'so.' "It means she's barely going to see your hair," Connor couldn't hide the cheekiness in his tone as he watched his brother get ready for his little Valentines rendezvous. He didn't doubt that his brother was extremely flirtatious and was able to do and say the right things to make a girl swoon. But romantic…well that was a completely different story. Travis was still the same old clown he was before, but at the same time, he was different. The elder Stoll was more serious and mature, and it kind of weirded Connor out.

Connor was kind of confused about the pairing, and couldn't quite understand it, alongside pretty much the rest of Camp Half Blood. Travis and Katie were about as different as they could possibly be, but in some really strange way – they worked. Even though they fought about the stupidest things all the time, and at least once a week you would hear Katie screech Travis' name because of another prank, they managed to work things out. Both of them were very stubborn and Connor was half surprised to see that they hadn't strangled each other yet.

Travis was about to retort some smart-arse reply when there was a knock on the Hermes cabin. He straightened up, knowing whose the sharp rap belonged to. Even though they had been dating a while, Travis couldn't help but feel his heart rate quicken at the thought of seeing his girlfriend. It was all a pretty new feeling to the son of Hermes. Sure, he'd had plenty of girlfriends (a few more than he could probably count, mind you.) But they were never serious and it was usually just so he could muck around, but this…this was different. And it both terrified and excited Travis at the same time. He had never known what it was like to be thinking about someone all the time, and wanting to be around them all the time. It didn't matter what they were doing, whether they were on a date or training newbies, but Travis was always in a good mood if a certain daughter of Demeter was around.

* * *

Katie stepped into the cabin, trying not to be grossed out by the gigantic laundry pile in the corner of the room. Travis hadn't exactly told her what they were going to be doing, and the dark haired girl didn't really know what to expect. That was thing when you were dating Travis Stoll, he was always full of surprises. One of the downsides of that, was that she never really knew how to dress for any date. She cringed inwardly as she remembered wearing a new skirt she had borrowed from one of her half-sisters, only to find out that her and Travis were going to be going rock climbing. In the rain.

Tonight, she settled for something comfortable, but more formal than just her usual denim shorts and t-shirt. And she hated to admit it, but it had taken her forever to get ready. She was one of the few older Demeter girls that actually had a girlfriend, so once her half-sisters had found out that she was going to be going out that night, they'd pounced. She was dressed in a pair of skinny black jeans that hugged her legs and paired it with a floral peplum shaped top. Katie wore a simple gold chain and her hair was falling loose across her shoulders. Katie wasn't the kind of girl who usually cared about what she looked, but with Travis, well it was different. It wasn't because she felt a need to impress him, but she just wanted to look nice for the guy.

"Hey Trav," she greeted her boyfriend with a kiss on the cheek as he pulled her into a hug. _Holy Hades, he smells amazing,_ she thought as he pulled away. He was looking as gorgeous as ever, clad in brown chinos and a simple blue and white striped polo.

"Let me take a photo of you two lovebirds," Connor cooed as he stepped into Katie's view. Katie and Connor never quite got along, but they managed to stay civil for the elder Stoll's sake. Travis furrowed his brow and wasn't sure whether his brother was actually being serious or not. But when he pulled out one of their half-sister's polaroid camera, Travis pulled Katie to his side and flashed his best grin. Katie smiled at the camera as she put her arm around Travis' waist. As the photo rolled out of the bottom of the camera, Connor nodded his head with satisfaction. He shook the polaroid and the trio made small talk as they waited for the photo to show in its clarity.

The photo was blurry, but it was a good one. Connor had taken the photo a little too early, so instead of Travis' grin being aimed at camera, it was staring down at Katie. Connor took a look and pretended to gag, handing the photo to his brother. Travis simply smiled, tucking the photo away in his pocket.

"Hey beautiful, are you ready for our little adventure?" Travis smiled down at Katie and before she had a chance to respond, they were already out the door.

* * *

_Now:_

Althea knew that she was supposed to be sleeping, but somehow she couldn't shut her eyes long enough to actually fall asleep. Slowly, she climbed out of bed and crept out of her room, careful not to make too much noise. The little eight year old had no idea what time it was, but she figured that it was late, judging by the fact that the corridor lights were already off. Whenever she couldn't sleep, she always found herself gravitating towards her father's small bedroom – so that's exactly where she went.

However, when she got there, the dark haired little girl immediately realised something wasn't right as she noticed the door was shut. Travis never shut his door at night, just in case something was to happen to Althea or she needed him in the middle of the night. Althea frowned, wondering whether she should enter. Thinking for a moment, she decided to go ahead and open up the door.

What she saw surprised her. Travis was sitting on the middle of the floor, with pictures strewn around him in a circle. He was holding one photo in particular and Althea couldn't help but notice the tears that were streaming down his face. The whole scene felt awfully peculiar to the young girl, who had never seen her big and strong daddy cry. It kind of scared her to see her dad look so...sad and so vulnerable.

* * *

Startled by the sound of the door opening, Travis' head snapped up and he felt as if he was a deer in the headlights. He was quick to react to his daughter coming into his room, pulling his arm across his face to wipe away the tears as he stood up, trying to compose himself. For a moment, he felt his face go red as he felt ashamed by being caught in such a state by his daughter. He had always tried to be strong for his daughter, especially when it came to sensitive matters, like a certain daughter of Demeter.

"Are you okay daddy?" Althea toddled over to her father as he scooped her up into his arms. She placed her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his torso as he settled onto the edge of the bed. For the most part, Travis did his best to avoid talking about Katie. Not only did it upset his daughter, it also took a massive toll on himself. Talking about Katie always left him in the foulest and darkest of moods, which was fair enough considering the situation. But he always did his best to hid those sorts of feelings from his daughter. Before he could say anything, he saw Althea glance down at the carpet to see a polaroid photo of himself and Katie, from all those years ago. Travis inwardly sighed, knowing he had some explaining to do.

* * *

_Then:_

"Trav, where are you taking me?" Katie asked as she tripped over another branch, annoyed that she was blindfolded. The son of Hermes knew very well that Katie absolutely hated surprises, so guess what their Valentines date was? A surprise. _Typical_, thought Katie sullenly as she felt a slight breeze against her back.

On the other hand, Travis was practically shaking with excitement. This moment had been weeks in the making and as he led his girlfriend to the spot, he couldn't help but grin. Oh he'd done good. Carefully, he untied the shirt that was covering Katie's eyes and swept his arms across the little clearing they were in, looking very proud with himself.

It took a few seconds for Katie's eyes to adjust to the dim light, and she was about to ask Travis exactly where the Hades they were when she realised. A few minutes into the bush, there was an old abandoned cabin that hadn't been used in decades. Tonight, however, it was nothing like she had remembered it. Travis had cleared up all the scrub that was in the surrounding area and there was a wooden ladder leaning to one side of the little cabin. The roof of the cabin was laid down with straw and Katie could see that there was something on top of it, although she couldn't quite see what it was.

* * *

Grinning, Travis pointed at the ladder, beckoning Katie to go up. The daughter of Demeter couldn't help but smile back as she made her way to the cabin and did as she was told. As she reached the top, she let out a breath she didn't even realise that she was holding. She was absolutely astounded.

Travis had planned a little picnic on the top of the roof, but because of the way the house and surrounding trees were placed, you could clearly see the full moon. Travis knew that there was nothing more that Katie loved than the sight of the moon. The young teen felt her insides melt as a wave of love for her incredibly amazing boyfriend rippled through her. She crawled over to the other side of the roof, surprised at how sturdy it felt as she heard Travis shuffle next to her.

"So do you like it?" Travis couldn't surpress a grin as he put his arm across Katie's shoulders. Her reaction was priceless, and by the look of awe that was still on her face, Travis knew that she loved it. It was a perfect night, he thought as he looked up and silently thanked the gods for the warm and dry weather.

"Are you kidding me? I love it," Katie replied, placing a kiss on Travis' lips. Even after all this time, Travis still felt a shiver down his spine as their lips touched. He could never get enough of this, of her. As they dug into the food that he'd supplied (all her favourites of course), Travis had never felt so at peace with his life. The night had gone exactly to plan. It was perfect. And more than that, she was perfect.

* * *

_Now:_

"Is that mummy?" Althea asked as she reached down to pick up the photo. She sat on her dad's lap and studied the faded polaroid carefully. The young girl had never actually seen a photo of her mother before, and she was beautiful. She had long, wavy hair the colour of dark chocolate that sat just past her shoulders and piercing green eyes. Her skin was an olive shade and she looked petite next to the younger version of Travis.

Little Althea looked at the photo to her father and back again. Not much about her dad had changed. His hair was a little bit shorter than it used to be and his face and body had slimmed from the muscular form he was back then, but it was still her dad. She noted the way that he looked at this mystery woman in the photo. You could tell by the way that his eyes softened that he really loved her mother. It was the same look that Travis had given Althea a few times. This thought saddened Althea for a moment as she wondered why her mother wasn't there with them if her daddy loved Katie so much.

"Yeah baby, that's your mum," Travis tried to sound a lot happier and calmer than he felt. He had answered most of Althea's questions about her mother quite offhandedly in the past, saying nothing more than she had decided to leave. It wasn't only because it hurt to talk about, but because the last thing that Travis wanted was his daughter to feel unwanted. And because Althea was so young, Travis never really knew how to approach the topic. 'Hey your mum was scared about being a mum so she ran away as soon as she could,' didn't seem like the most appropriate way to tackle the matter. But now that she was getting older, Althea's questions were getting harder to dodge and Travis knew that he'd have to tell her the whole truth one day.

"She's really pretty," Althea commented as she gentled stroked the picture with her thumb. She wondered if her mum still looked the same, or if she was a little different like the way her dad was different. She really wanted to know about her mum and wanted to know when she was coming home, but she didn't like the way that her dad went all sad whenever she asked about it. Althea couldn't help it though. All her friends had their mummy and she wanted to know where hers was too.

"This photo was taken on our first Valentines day together," Travis told his daughter, looking down at the photo. Oh they were so in love. And they had continued to be, up until Althea was born and Katie had left their daughter at his doorstep before disappearing into the world. Travis felt his heart grow heavy at the thought of Katie. He wondered where she was, what she was doing on this Valentines day, whether she was with someone. The thought of Katie being with someone made Travis' insides feel as if they were being blended together.

It took Althea a moment to realise that it was Valentines day. She had remembered her Uncle Connor and Aunty Chelsea talking about it the other day while she was over playing with her cousin Lysander. She didn't really know much about the day, except that it was a supposed special day where you treat the person that you love. She smiled suddenly as she had an idea.

* * *

"Hey daddy, let's go out," she said as she clambered off his lap and started to make her way to his closet. Even though Travis hadn't said anything, Althea knew that it always made her father sad when he thought about her mother, and she was going to cheer him up. Althea stood on her tiptoes to pull open her father's closet, before grabbing his grey coat and black mittens. She was definitely on a mission as she formulated the plan in her head.

"Althea, it's nine o'clock and you have school tomorrow morning," Travis said as he turned his daughter to face him. He had no idea what she was planning, but he knew better than anyone that she was a determined little thing. Not to mention stubborn. It reminded him a lot like someone he used to know, he thought with a heavy heart.

"I don't care daddy, it's Valentines day and that's when you're supposed to treat the one you love," Althea explained patiently, as if she was a teacher explaining some concept to one of her students. She handed her father his coat as she quickly made her way back to her room before Travis could protest. Hurriedly, she changed out of her pyjamas into her favourite purple dress and shrugged on her matching purple coat as she grabbed her boots from the floor. Althea picked up her piggybank before making her way back to her father's room.

"Where are we going Althea?" Travis had put his coat and shoes on, looking down at his daughter with a mixture of disbelief, and well, utter love. This girl is crazy, he thought. But my kind of crazy. Althea didn't say a word as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the front door. He laughed, playing along.

* * *

They found themselves at their favourite little café only a few blocks down the road from their little apartment. As soon as they got there, Travis was ordered to sit down by his rather determined little girl as she made her way to the counter. Althea could only just see the other side of the counter if she went on her tiptoes. The elder Stoll offered to help her order, but Althea had forced him to go back at sit down.

The teenage girl at the register, Tessa, watched the whole scene, bemused by the fierce little girl in front of her. She'd seen the pair many times before and she was captivated at the way that Travis loved his daughter and vice versa.

"Hey there, what can I get you?" she asked Althea, who had placed her piggy bank on the counter. Althea thought for a moment, trying to remember what her daddy's favourite drink was.

"One hot chocolate and one coffee that's black with the frothy stuff on top," Althea began, not quite knowing what her dad's favourite drink was called. Thankfully, the server had seen Travis enough times to remember his usual order.

"Anything else with that?" Tessa asked. Althea thought long and hard. She wanted to treat her daddy and show him how much she loved him, because he was her favourite person in the whole wide world. She stared at the desserts for a while, but had no idea what to choose.

"Well, I want to get my daddy something special because it's Valentines day," Althea explained and Tessa's heart melted. This girl was so precious and so rare. She'd never seen any girl love their dad the way that this girl did. It wasn't even in this moment, but other times when they'd come into the cafe and Althea would be clutching onto Travis' hand or whispering something into his ear. Tessa would see her eyes widen with excitement and wonder whenever Travis opened his mouth and it was obvious to everyone that his daughter absolutely adored him.

"What about a chocolate brownie and some blueberry cheesecake?" Tessa suggested. Althea nodded, happy with the suggestion.

"How much will that be?" asked Althea as she grabbed her piggy bank and tried to pry open the bottom. Tessa didn't have the heart to charge the little girl with anything. After all, it was Valentines day and Tessa wanted to help make this family's night special

"I'll sort it out, don't worry," Tessa smiled down at her, making a mental note to pay for the meal later. Althea smiled back and said her thank yous before making her way back to where her father was sitting. Instead of sitting on the seat across from her dad, she climbed back onto his lap.

* * *

"I missed you," Travis murmured as he planted a kiss on the top of her forehead. Althea snuggled into her father, loving how protected and loved she felt. The little girl let herself be snuggled until the food arrived.

Travis was stunned at his daughter's love. If anything, it was supposed to be him treating her out, not the other way round. He looked down at his daughter as a wave of emotion threatened to send him into tears again. He had no idea how he had gotten so lucky. Sure, Katie had left him, but he had gained the most beautiful girl in return. Althea was bright, cheeky, witty, kind – everything Travis had dreamed of in a daughter and so much more. He never knew that he could love someone as fiercely as he loved his looked up and saw the tears that were brimming in her father's eyes and the wrong idea. Panicked, she reached up to wipe them away, almost poking his eyes out in the process.

"No daddy, you're supposed to be happy," she cried out, almost on the verge of tears herself. Althea wanted her dad to feel better, not worse. Travis chuckled a little as he gently grabbed his daughter's wrists and pulled them away from his face.

"I am happy baby," Travis began, smiling down at her, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. Immediately, Althea's face brightened. Her plan had worked!

"I wanted to treat you daddy," Althea started to say as she pushed the chocolate brownie into her dad's mouth. "Because you're really loving and kind, and you're the best daddy in the whole world. I don't like it when you're sad so I wanted to take you somewhere that would make you happy. Especially because it's Valentines day." As Travis chewed on the brownie, his heartstrings tugged at the sound of his daughters.

His biggest goal in life was to be the best father to Althea that he could possibly be. Most of the time, he didn't really have any idea what he was doing, but boy did he try his best. This little girl sitting on his lap had turned his life upside down since the moment he knew about her existence. When he was growing up, he thought he was going to be a rich, married man with no kids, who travelled the world and kicked monster butt. Instead, he was a single father, who worked a 9-5 job and lived in a semi-crappy apartment in a small town.

"This is the best Valentines day ever Al, thank you," he told his daughter with as much sincerity as he could muster as his voice was threatening to crack with emotion. Althea squealed with happiness, obviously chuffed with herself. Unexpectedly, she threw her arms around her father's neck – so fiercely that he almost fell off the chair. Once the initial surprise wore off, he gentled wrapped his arms around his perfect girl. Sure, it wasn't how he thought he'd ever spend his Valentines. But he wouldn't of had it any other way.

* * *

A/N: Let me know what you think of the story! Here are the links to the other Althea + Travis stories.

The Healing of Travis Stoll: s/7382706/1/The-Healing-Of-Travis-Stoll

The Dangers of Starting Over and Moving On: s/7670527/1/The-Dangers-of-Starting-Over-and-Moving-On

The Wishlist: s/7637125/1/The-Wish-List


End file.
